The Spectacle Blog

A Couple Points About Virginia

Who are the real donkeys?

The Republicans and commentariat will conclude the wrong things about Virginia. Just like they concluded the wrong things about Romney and then McCain. It’s tiring, but the GOP is always wrong. Heck, they were wrong about Trump. They continue to be wrong about their voters and they’re wrong about legislative priorities.

The GOP will look back at this halcyon time–when Republicans had over 30 governorships, majorities in most state houses, both houses in Congress, and the Presidency–as the biggest wasted political opportunity in a century.

The GOP could have used their surprise win to follow through on promises to voters. Instead, the fractured and fractious, never mind shocked and horrified, Congress critters were/are paralyzed. They can agree on nothing.

The unwillingness to bend to achieve even one promise coupled with zero principles to uphold with legislation makes them loathed. Not just disliked, but loathed, by their own voters.

If they don’t get their crap together, and soon, there will be electoral bloodbath this next election cycle.

The problem is not Trump. Again, he is a symptom, not a cause. Republican fecklessness and inability to use their formidable power to achieve makes their voters despise them.

Meanwhile, Trump has galvanized the opposition. Unlike Republicans who see an unseasoned, undeserving bore, Democrats see an evil, racist, bigoted monster who is using the power of the executive branch to undo the Democrats fragile temporary successes. They’re angry. Donald Trump animates their every thought. He’s the stuff of nightmares. They want vengeance and they seek to get power back brick by brick and then codify every lost, empty symbolic Obama victory into law.

If Republicans don’t wake up, the Democrats will succeed. Demographics are on their side; no not racial demographics, age demographics. The next generation, the Millennials are a mirror image of the Boomers except more socialist, if that’s possible. There are a lot of them. They’re also motivated.

Republican voters are tired and frustrated. Cycle after cycle they’ve tried to send a message. Wave after wave election and then the surprise presidency. They’ve gotten precisely nothing for their trouble.

So keep it up Republicans. Blame Trump. It’s cheap and easy, but Trump’s not the problem. You are.

P.S. Virginia is a Democrat state now, but it was before tonight. This is just the first election that drove that sea-change home.

P.P.S. I’m not addressing the lost opportunity of having a President Cruz or President Rubio because I think that’s fantastical thinking. In this political climate, men like them would likely have been beat by Hillary Clinton. The electorate has changed.